"No. I was watchingSesame Street with Zoe. She's just gone to sleep."
"How is she?" Elena hated that she'd missed out on a year of her goddaughter's life.
"Caught a little cold," Deacon said. "But Slayer's got her back."
Elena smiled at the reference to the slobbering hellhound of a dog who thought Zoe washis . "Sara?"
"You two must have a psychic hotline going." Quiet humor, very Deacon. "She was about to call you but she went out like a light right after dinner. Had a tough few days at the Guild - almost lost one of her hunters."
Elena's heart crashed into her ribs. "Who?"
"Ashwini." He named the hunter who'd first told Elena about Nazarach. "She got cornered by a pack of vamps in some back alley in Boston - apparently they were out to settle a score because she tracked one of them after he went rogue. They cut her up pretty bad."
"Are they dead?" An ice-cold question.
"Ash killed two, wounded the others. Ink wasn't even dry on the execution orders when their heads were delivered to the Guild, express delivery."
"Probably their angel." For the most part, angels didnot like vampires acting out. It was bad for business. "Is Ash okay?"
"Doctors say no lasting damage. A month recovery tops."
Relief made her entire body tremble. "Thank God."
"What about you, Ellie?"
The care in those words had her swallowing. "I'm okay. Getting used to this new body.
Things don't work the same, you know?"
"I have an idea for a special crossbow for you."
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to design it so you can strap it over one arm comfortably, instead of over your back. That way, you won't have to worry about your wings."
"Sounds good."
"What do you think of lightweight bolts? They'll do the job without weighing you down in flight."
"Can you make it so it loads automatically?" Galen could go eat his sword, she thought.
Childish, yeah, but it made her feel better. "I need speed."
"Something with small spinning sawblades might be better - let me work on it. You can use the bolts for chipping and the blades for serious defense." A pause. "You are coming back to the Guild?"
"Of course." She was hunter-born. Wings didn't change that.
Raphael met Neha's eyes on the wide screen mounted on the wall. The Queen of Snakes, of Poisons, sat in a chair carved out of a light-colored wood that gleamed. The sheen did nothing to hide the fact that the carvings were of a thousand writhing snakes, their scales catching the light as Neha leaned back, the bindi on her forehead a tiny golden cobra.
"Raphael." Her lips - red, lush, poisonous - parted. "I hear there is trouble in the Refuge."
"An angel who seeks to become an archangel."
"Yes, so my daughter tells me." She waved an elegantly shaped hand, the bangles on her wrists making a delicate clinking sound. "There's always one who seeks to rise above his station." Reaching forward, she picked up something, the silk of her emerald-colored sari a quiet rustle. "But I agree, this one must be punished in a way that'll never be forgotten.
Our children are too rare to be used as pawns."
Raphael knew that in spite of the way she'd phrased that, Neha was one of the few members of the Cadre who treated human children as precious. That didn't stop her from ending adult lives - but any resulting orphans grew up in the lap of poisonous luxury, the memories of their parents' agonizing deaths wiped from their minds.
"Anoushka," she now said, stroking the python she'd placed in her lap, "says you know of the distasteful object that was left in her bed."
"You have many enemies." And Anoushka, he thought, was beginning to grow a phalanx of her own.
Her hand moved over the snake's viridian skin, sleek, sensuous, as if she were petting a lover. "Yes."
"Have you heard anything from the others that may help in the hunt?" The one they sought may well have made mistakes in any acts predating the assaults within the Refuge.
"Titus and Charisemnon have closed their borders - none of my people can get in or out." An irritated light filled those dark eyes. "Favashi mentioned something about losing a few of her older vampires two months ago. She hasn't yet tracked down the perpetrator." This time, Raphael saw open disbelief.
Neha, he knew, would have killed and kept killing until someone confessed. It wasn't the best way to get to the truth - but then, the Queen of Poisons had never had a rebellion in her lands. "How is Eris?" It was only as the words left his mouth that he realized he'd lied to Elena. Therewas another long-term archangelic pairing. But it hadn't been a lie with intent - he'd simply forgotten about Eris, as most people did.
"He lives." Neha's words were chilling in their very preciseness. "Anoushka is going through her people to find the traitor who defiled her bed. I'll let you know if she unearths anything of value."
As he terminated the connection, Raphael thought of the last time he'd seen Eris.
Three hundred years ago.
Chapter 20
Elena was reading a dossier of current events in a corner of the classroom while the kids created presents for Sam using arts and crafts when the sea crashed into her mind.
Something's happened, she thought before Raphael could speak, scanning the classroom with frantic eyes to ensure everyone was present.Not another child?
Lijuan has sent you a gift.
Her soul iced over at the thought of what an angel who used death as her symbol would consider a suitable gift.Do you know what it is?